Thanks Europe for tall boxy cars,getting taller by the day.

2016 is not far away.Can't see me at a garage buying one of the horrible things we are all being forced to drive.

Think I will be buying 'classics'(something built between 1950 and 2000).It is just a depressing thought that the things I love about cars,sleek powerful,something worth a clean at the weekend,is all going.

If they think I will waste my time and polish on a tall square box with loads of windows.No way.

The 'proper' car will soon be dead:( .Think we are all at the end of an era

I was thinking just the same thing last week ... how costly would it be to buy (for example) a late 70's Ford Escort RS2000 and put in some comfort and luxury items from modern cars if required ... either that or a Vauxhall VX 4/90

You would have to find something witha thriving club around it though as otherwise sorting body panels might be a bit costly / impossible !

Retro Cars magazine is full of people doing this sort of thing already, it's a pretty popular thing right now, perhaps taken over from the old customizing stuff.

Slow day at work so i been thinking of cars and there future....i did not like my thoughts...

I feel that anyone with high performance cars shoudl look after them and saver every moment with them as i think there a dying breed. Now there demise may not happen for a decade but eventuly i see cars like the RS, type R, 182, VR6, RS4, M6 these sort of cars leaving the option list at dealerships. As enviromental laws tighten oil supplies run dry, traffic glogs up the roads, speed restriction get tighter and enforced more,

what room is there for perfromance cars??

apart from as musem pieces that are more Art then Car made by Ferrari or Lambo for the super rich to buy and keep in storage just to look at a remind them of times past where you were you could drive such magnificant cars. These fast cars we enjoy now are evently going to replaced by tree hugging, box shaped, wouldn't hurt a rabbit if you run over cheap crappy bits of ****e...

Joel

http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,12529-1878330,00.html this is intresting its sort of clarksons views on this topic

joel

As enviromental laws tighten oil supplies run dry' date=' traffic glogs up the roads, speed restriction get tighter and enforced more,

what room is there for perfromance cars??

[/quote']

As much room as ever - people aren't going to stop wanting them. The manufacturers will have to use innovation to get around legislation, but they've always managed it in the past so it needn't be a problem in the future either.

Just because a car has high levels of safety (both for occupant and pedestrian) and is environmentally responsible doesn't automatically mean it has to be slow - in fact, if manufacturers did make these sorts of performance cars, it would considerably weaken the arguments made by leftie hippy groups who believe the car is killing the world. Therefore, if anything, it would pave the way for MORE performance cars to be made...

Rob.

I would go along with Rob's view that thing aren't going to change really.

The same concerns have been around for ages. I still remember the "doom" comments when the initial hatchbacks like the mk1 Golf started coming out - everyone complaining about boxy, dull Euro cars etc. Individuals' perceptions change over time and people get used to the look of different cars and everyone hankers back to something they liked as a kid.

Things also go in cycles - everyone bemoaned the end of performance cars and hot hatches throughout the late 90s ... then there was a massive resurgence we see today (early 2000's) which has gone against every argument and prediction in the press etc.

I would go along with Rob's view that thing aren't going to change really.

The same concerns have been around for ages. I still remember the "doom" comments when the initial hatchbacks like the mk1 Golf started coming out - everyone complaining about boxy' date=' dull Euro cars etc. Individuals' perceptions change over time and people get used to the look of different cars and everyone hankers back to something they liked as a kid.

Things also go in cycles - everyone bemoaned the end of performance cars and hot hatches throughout the late 90s ... then there was a massive resurgence we see today (early 2000's) which has gone against every argument and prediction in the press etc.[/quote']

But the difference between then and now is, we've got the most anti-car government in the world who will make damned sure they will make it all but completely impractiacal to own and use such machinery to anything like its potential, unless of course its on a track, but not everyone wants to / can afford track days.

So while these cars will be available, you can bet that the government in 10 years will be tracking your every movement, and it'll be points and a fine every time you go 1 mph over (and I still reckon they'll have the 70 limit then, or even worse, they'll reduce it because speed kills right?), thats assuming they arent all fitted with speed limiters. Such antics will render owning such a car pointless.

But the difference between then and now is' date=' we've got the most anti-car government in the world who will make damned sure they will make it all but completely impractiacal to own and use such machinery to anything like its potential, unless of course its on a track, but not everyone wants to / can afford track days.

So while these cars will be available, you can bet that the government in 10 years will be tracking your every movement, and it'll be points and a fine every time you go 1 mph over (and I still reckon they'll have the 70 limit then, or even worse, they'll reduce it because speed kills right?), thats assuming they arent all fitted with speed limiters. Such antics will render owning such a car pointless.[/quote']

Now thats a slightly different topic from that raised by lozgti which is what i was addressing.

I tend to agree that there will be limited opportunity to actually "use" cars to their potential on the road in the future but don't think that it will be due to police / speed restrictions etc - more to do with:

(a) the fact that roads in the UK will be so congested that you can't move fast and ( cars are getting so much faster across all ranges that no matter what the police view you are unlikely to be able to explore most cars' limits safely on many roads anyway. :(

But the difference between then and now is, we've got the most anti-car government in the world

Methinks someone's been spending too much time on Pistonheads...

Our government isn't especially anti-car - no more so than most other European countries. They are merely exploiting the fact that people are willing to pay through the nose to use their cars...if they really didn't want people in cars, they'd do what they did with fox hunting and ban it. But all the while cars are getting bigger and faster, and there's an ever-increasing number of them on our roads... :rubchin:

Rob.

Methinks someone's been spending too much time on Pistonheads...

What makes you think that? :confused:

Improvements in cars tend to follow improvements in the materials used to make them.

I think cars will continue to get faster, safer, more reliable & we will continue to see ever more fantastic looking supercars & sportscars.